The Ocean Reef Marina in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island was the home for Pura Vida for a month. While the boat enjoyed sunny skies and warm waters, the Captain & First Mate returned to Michigan. On Saturday, April 6 we flew back to Freeport to continue our Bahamas adventure. PV2 was in ship-shape as had been reported by our boat neighbors, Lane & Tina from Nova Scotia, who watched the boat while we were away.
The next morning we were ready to head out for the Sea of Abaco which is located 70 miles east of Grand Bahama Island. After gaining local knowledge, we determined we could shave off 20 miles and avoid rougher open water by taking the Grand Lucayan Waterway rather than cruising around the west end of Grand Bahama Island. This Waterway was an eleven year project completed in 1978. It is a 9 mile weaving man-made canal cutting across Grand Bahama Island from north to south surrounded by hundreds of residential homesites most of which remain vacant lots to this day. We transited the canal during high tide and had no problems with depths. After exiting the canal we traveled 40 miles across Little Bahama Bank to Great Sale Cay. Great Sale is an uninhabited island and a good protected anchorage half way to the Abacos. We shared this anchorage with about 20 other boats as this is the only good stopping point for cruisers traveling between Florida and the Abacos.
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